How could I have been so stupid? Actually there's no excuse for my type of business. I have a copywriting business, and wanted to advertise locally. I live in Nashville TN. Back in November I talked with a sales rep from the Nashville office. I won't tell the name, because this has not been settled. The sales rep was a lady. She came to my home and explained programs for two Yellow Book area directories. Nashville wasn't available (thank God) at that time. One directory was called Nashville North, which is area's north of Nashville. The other was Williamson County. This area is about 35 miles from Nashville. It's the Beverly Hills of the Nashville area. The rich and famous live there, and many businesses.
Here's what she told me:
Nashville North for the ad size you selected receives 46 calls per month (don't laugh I believed her) and the Willamson County directory should receive 70 calls per month. The business you're in you should receive more calls.
The Nashville North ad will appear in our January directory, which is the third week. The Willamson County ad will appear in April.
She then told me many of her clients receives calls the first week. When the directory is delivered to the area. The Nashville North ad cost $70 per month.
The Williamson County ad $117.00 per month. And, let me tell you, it's not worth it for any business. The week, when my Nashville North ad was to appear, no calls. I was concerned and upset at the same time. I told her, if the ad didn't generate the amount of calls she had told me, I would not pay for it. And, I asked for the Willamson County ad be canceled.
Here's where the story gets interesting. She didn't answer that email. But has answered every email I sent her.in February I received no invoice for Nashville North. So I was naive to believe she canceled both ads. She never contacted me, emailed or called me.
In May I received an invoice for the Williamson County ad. I contacted her, and said I wanted that ad canceled. I told her about the email I sent her.
Instant memory loss. I said I have a copy of that email. She still denied it.
I was really pissed off. Wouldn't you be? I decided to write the CEO of Yellow Book. Usually CEO's have empathy for customer problems. I thought he'll understand and help me. Nope.instead of the CEO writing or calling me, he turned it over to their customer service department.
The customer service rep was a lady. She called me. I tried to explain my side. She would not listen. Do you know what she told me?"You didn't have to sign the paper to buy the ad." I said yes, and your sales rep should have read my email but she ignorned it. Why? Money of course. I said, what about all the misleading information? I'm gonna have to pay it she said.
Now listen to this. Did you miss something in my story? What about the Nashville North ad right? Guess what? The ad was never printed in the directory. They screwed up in some way, and no one told me, until she did.
Tell me six month later. Now if you're like me, you must be thinking, someone had to know about this? Did the sales rep know since she wrote the business?
No one is talking. So I thought, I'll write the CEO again, explain this is Yellow Book's mistake and not my mistake. I did write him a second time.
Guess what? He turned that letter over to the same woman. She emailed me and said: I have discussed your email (to the sales rep) with management, and we have decided that your email was not a cancellation request.
Can you believe this? What part of cancel the Williamson County ad don't you understand? It says it in my email. Cancel the Williamson County ad. Now if that ad cannot be canceled who is supposed to tell me? Right. The sales rep.
She ignored my email. Who is to blame? The sales rep. The customer service rep asked me when I talked with her by phone, did I want to cancel the Nashville North ad? I said yes... Here's what she said: Please send me an email to cancel the ad. Oh it's okay to cancel that ad by email. But not the one I sent the sales rep. The Williamson County ad was to appear in the directory in four months. Plenty of time to cancel.
Do you sense something is not right here? I feel, I was given misleading information, and was most certainly deceived in more ways than one.
Oh by the way, the Williamson County ad that I wanted canceled is now in the directory. How many calls do you think I have received? It's been running two months. That's right zero. Not not call. So much for 70 calls per month.
Now I am not a happy chappy. I am pissed off by this whole nightmare. This is Yellow Book mistakes and not my mistakes. The people who work for Yellow Book corporate office are, well apathy is a good word.
I filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. Something must be done about a company who uses deceptive sales techniques, and misleading information. What they did to me was cover up for their mistakes, and deceived me. They are nothing but a profit hungry company, who cares nothing about customer problems. Another case of big business screwing the American consumer good. We consumers have no rights these days. Whatever big business wants to do with us, we must take it. Not me. I will fight them tooth and nail. They are not going to screw me and get away with it.
Yellow Book may have happy customers and good for them. But if you are not generating the results they tell you, then to be frank&you've been had.
If you are a small business owner, use a test ad first. Never commit for any period of time using an ad. Try newspapers or target publications. That's what I should have done. I fell into that trap. When she told me all those phone calls I would receive, I saw the money coming in, my greed over rode my good sense. Don't believe those numbers. They are inflated to get business owners to buy. It's misleading. Don't be stupid like I was.
One last word of advice. If you must buy an ad from this company, I would advise you to tape every word the sales rep tells you. Because later they will deny it all. And, the tape don't lie. Big companies can tape consumers when we call their numbers, why can't we do the same?
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